Akesis closes $2M placing

Akesis Pharmaceuticals, an emerging US diabetes drug-development firm, says that it has closed a private placement in which it sold 2,352,942 shares of its common stock and a warrant to purchase 352,941 shares to Avalon Ventures at a price of $0.85 each, raising around $2.0 million in gross proceeds. The selling price was based on the average closing price of Akesis' shares for the five days ending Monday, March 24.

Akesis Pharmaceuticals has a pipeline of innovative oral product candidates for the treatment of diabetes and related metabolic disorders. These are supported by issued and filed US patents for both prescription and over-the-counter treatments that combine anti-diabetic trace minerals with certain classes of diabetes oral agents. Akesis' product candidates have demonstrated preliminary evidence of efficacy in lowering and controlling blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.